Captain, Crewman, Doctor pilot?
by Claire O'Mack
Summary: A Voyager remake of the TNG episode conundrum. When an energy weapon hits Voyager it erases the memories of the crew. much confusion and interesting situations arise, as they find themselves also tasked with a dangerous mission, and a extra crew member. Ensemble piece
1. Chapter 1

I was watching an episode of TNG the other day called conundrum and I thought to myself, what if that had been Voyager. Anyway I decided I would have a go at writing it. If you are unfamiliar with that episode then here is a brief outline: The crew get their memories erased by an alien weapon, and almost coerced into destroying another race.

Here is my somewhat more humorous take on that episode. Ps I take some serious liberties with the time line here. Seven is not yet on board, but the episode Tinker, Tylor, doctor spy has just occurred. Happy reading.

**Captain, Crewman, Doctor pilot?**

"You know Doctor after all that has happened, you are lucky the Captain did not confine you to sick bay. Let alone allow you to take command of the night shift." Harry said from his console behind the command deck. The Doctor turned to him slowly, his four pips flashing slightly as he did so. The light from the stars flashing past on the view screen highlighting them just so.

"I understand your reservations Mr Kim, but I do have all the knowledge and experiences of over five hundred star fleet Captains, I am more than qualified to guide this ship home, if not overly so." The Doctor replied with his usual arrogance, and yet all Harry Kim could do was smile. He had gotten used to the Doctors way's over the years.

"Report Mr Kim?" The Doctor then said into the silence as Voyager hummed beneath them.

"Nothing sir, everything is the same as it was ten minutes ago, your doing a wonderful job." Harry replied dead pan and for a moment the Doctor smiled until he heard the Ensign at the helm snigger.

"Carry on." The Doctor said between clenched teeth.

B'Elanna was not looking forward to this evening, she had been waiting for Chacotay in the mess hall for twenty minutes now and she was almost through her second cup of coffee. 'careful B'Elanna you're starting to turn into the Captain.' She silently admonished herself and quickly put down the cup. Thinking she should change her beverage for a nice calming cup of camomile, she stood up and went to the galley. Not seeing any sign of Neelix she went behind the counter and got the tea. As she waited for the water to come to the boil she spotted Chacotay walk in. signalling to him, he came over. His face looked warn, the lines around his eyes had grown deeper since she last saw him, and a wave of guilt washed over her. She knew that recently she had not been helping with Chacotay's frame of mind.

"Can I get you some Tea Chacotay?" B'Elanna offered, awarding her old friend with a genuine smile.

"Yes please its been a rough day?" Chacotay replied as B'Elanna took down another cup and began making the tea.

Tom Paris sat nervously on the edge of the Captain's sofa. It was rare indeed that he should be in her quarters, rearer after hours and also out of uniform. She had called him to her quarter twenty minutes ago. Tom was slightly worried that Janeway had discovered his clandestine activities on the holodeck, the betting pool was once again going strong, and Tom had been enjoying the benefits of his extra rations. Luckily she had wanted to discuss the upcoming away mission to the Wexan home world. They were scheduled to leave first thing in the morning and their itinerary had been changed.

"I am sorry to have brought you here in your free time Tom, but Tuvok was only just made aware of the Wexan rules for male and females serving together on the same ship. I realise that posing as my mate may be a little awkward and I can take Ensign Bennett if this will in anyway have an ill effect on the negotiations." Janeway continued, as Tom sat there looking at the colour in her cheeks rise. He noticed that he was in fact, not the only one who was slightly uncomfortable at this situation.

"No I think it will be fine, plus you don't want Bennett piloting you though those plasma storms, you want me." Tom said now enjoying seeing his Capitan squirm at seeing the acceptable attire she would have to wear, if she wanted to conduct negotiations with the Wexan.

"True, but boy do I wish I didn't have to wear this, I even had Tuvok scan for another world within a hundred parsec's hoping we could negotiate for Dilithium there, but Wexan is the only M class world for light years." Janeway said placing the Padd on the table and standing up.

"Can I get you a drink Tom?" Janeway offered as she smoothed down her hair and walked to the replicator.

"Sure why not." Tom replied as the ship jolted to the side and Janeway was thrown backwards into Toms chest. A stark white light made them both close their eyes for a moment, squinting as the room came back into focus. Janeway moved first, jumping away from Tom like a scalded Cat.

"I'm sorry but do I know you?" She said then looking down at herself confused. Tom looked back at her as she looked from herself back to him.

"I don't know who am I?" Tom replied as Janeway shook her head in confusion.

=/\=

"What happened!" The Doctor said as he bolted upright from the Captain's chair and looked around at a room of unfamiliar faces.

"I don't know, I don't even know what I am doing here." Harry replied equally confused as Ensign Bennett turned from the helm and looked at the two men standing behind her. They both looked at her in hope that she would be able to explain this situation.

"I don't know either, I guess this is a ship and I am the pilot." She said now looking down at the control panel in front of her, and realising that she understood what it was showing her.

"Umm I can read this, we are travelling at Warp four on a heading of 104.5 mark 6." She said as Harry and the Doctor came to stand behind her.

"I suggest we stop until we can figure out what is going on here." The Doctor said looking at his uniform, then to the others who had gathered around them.

"Agreed." A smooth voice came from the turbo lift behind them. All on the deck turned to look as Tuvok stepped off the lift and entered the bridge.

"Do you know who you are?" Harry asked as Tuvok looked around, as if he was assessing the configuration of the room.

"I do not, neither do I recognise this vessel, but I do seem to possess the knowledge of how everything works." He replied looking from the Doctor to Harry, then at the rest of the crew.

"Ok first things first we should see where we are and if we can access the computer, maybe that will let us know who we are." The Doctor said, feeling like he should say something, for some reason he felt like he should be in command. Looking around no one else seemed to fit that description.

"I can do that sir." A tall dark haired man said, he was standing behind the railing that separated the bridge. He quickly turned to one of the consoles and began tapping away at the computer.

"I am sorry, but the computer is not responding, it seems like half the files have been corrupted, and the other half have encryption codes."

"Does anyone remember the codes?" The Doctor said as he looked around but no one replied.

"Ok there are probably more people on this ship, we need to find out if they are in the same condition as we are, if so they will be confused and frightened. If not then they can help us, do we have a means of contacting the rest of the ship?" The Doctor continued as Harry walked over to his console and got to work.

"We do now." He said after a few moments and the Doctor smiled at him.

"Good ok, umm this is, this is the bridge please remain calm, we need to know if anyone has any memory of who they are. Please contact us as soon as possible, if you don't, remain calm and try to stay in a group, we will be working on the problem."

B'Elanna slammed the cup down that she had been holding.

"Well that was helpful." She hissed as the man on the comm link finished and all eyes looked up to her.

"What?" She growled back, looking around her and wondering what the hell she was doing.

"I guess we wait here then, maybe send out a party of people to gather anyone alone into this room." Chacotay said as he watched the woman behind the counter start to pace.

"Yeah sounds like a good idea, I would like to know what in gods name I am doing behind here. Surely I am not the cook?" B'Elanna replied looking around at the various pots and pans in the galley.

"Who knows, but for now, you should stay here, this room is probably going to fill up with a lot of scared people, maybe a friendly face would be a good thing." Chacotay said trying to smile at B'Elanna but she simply folded her arms across her chest and looked over at him.

"I have a feeling I am not the smiling type." She replied as Chacotay went around the room looking for volunteers to search the ship. Once he had enough people they left what seemed to be the mess hall and walked along the corridor. Realising that a few people must have remained in their rooms, they began knocking on doors.

Tom and Kathryn looked at one another for a long time after they heard the message, neither of them wanted to point out that they were alone, and in what seemed to be a relaxed setting.

"Ok so we aren't the only ones, that's good, or maybe not." Kathryn said, quickly moving around the room and looking for any clue as to which one of them lived here.

"Yeah I mean if no one knows who they are, then who is flying this thing?" Tom said finally spotting something on the floor in the corner and going over to pick it up. Looking at it he froze, holding the item up to eye level he was shocked as a hand came out and snatched the bra off him. Tom's mouth snapped closed, as Kathryn threw the item in some kind of basket.

"I think we can safely say these quarters are mine." She said her tone slightly embarrassed as Tom, smiled slightly at her discomfort.

"Fine, then what am I doing here?" He said with a slight eyebrow waggle as Kathryn turned to him.

"I don't know, maybe we should go and find some other people. I mean standing here looking at one another isn't going to get us anywhere." Kathryn said not wanting to hurt his feelings, but also feeling uncomfortable about this entire situation. Tom opened his mouth to say something when a chime came at the door. Kathryn went to answer it, as the door slid back a tall dark skinned man with a tattoo over his eye looked down at her.

"Hi there, we are gathering people in the mess hall, it's two decks up, probably be better than being alone." He said his eyes taking in Kathryn's form as she stood there in what seemed to be the under garments of the uniform he was wearing.

"Actually she isn't alone." Tom said coming forwards and placing his hand on the door frame above Kathryn's head. Chacotay backed off quickly, allowing his hands to drop to his sides and then one to run through his hair.

"Well if you want to join us, you're more than welcome." He said quickly retreating down the corridor and away around the bend. Kathryn turned to Tom, not allowing the door to close the stood there back lit.

"Maybe we should do as he suggested, I would sure like to find out what the hell is going on here." Kathryn said quickly taking Tom by the elbow and pulling him along the corridor with her.

The Doctor sat in what seemed to be a conference room, he sat at the head of the table, no one having questioned his decision to take command, it seemed the most logical of choices. Around him sat the rest of the people who had been on the bridge.

"Ok so what do we know so far?" The Doctor asked looking from one face to another until the young man with the dark hair spoke up.

"We have established that our mission was to destroy a military command centre, controlled by the Lanterians. The Federation has been at war with these people for several years, but a new weapon created by the Lanterians has Star fleet worried." Harry said passing across his data, as Tuvok took over the explanation.

"It seems there new weapon causes memory loss, and computer shut down, we have lost many star ships to this weapon, in hindsight, we are lucky to not have been captured." Tuvok said pausing to look at the Doctor.

"Yes do we know why we were not boarded or destroyed?"

"I think I have an idea, maybe we went though some kind of net, protecting the Lanterians most sensitive regions, any ship that passes though may be rendered the same way." The tall dark haired man to the Doctors left said, he looked at the rest of the table and finally his eyes fell on Tuvok.

"I believe this could be a possible explanation, however I think we should proceed with caution, until we know who we are, we are in danger."

"How about those logs, have we managed to find out anything about this crew?" The Doctor said finally, but this time he was only met with silence.

"Not yet there was extensive damage to the computer, its going to take a while to repair it." Harry responded finally now looking down at the table.

"Ok for now we hold here, but I want the ships weapons and defensive systems back online as soon as possible." With that the meeting ended, the rest of the crew exited the room leaving the Doctor alone. He turned and looked out of the window, hoping to remember anything, but all he was getting was some puzzling images of what seemed to be programming data. Ignoring it he turned to the Padd that described there mission, it was something that he could only put off for so long.

Finding their way to the mess hall, Kathryn and Tom walked into a loud chorus of voices, many conversations over lapping one another, but all about the same subject. Who were they, and what had happened. Making their way over to the counter they found a small woman in a gold uniform behind it. She seemed to be a mix of species and was flustered at getting a bit pot of broth ready for the rest of the people gathered in the mess.

"Hello, have you had any word on what is happening yet?" Kathryn enquired as the woman turned to her, with a scowl on her face.

"Does it look like I am the comm panel, why don't you try him." B'Elanna said pointing over at Chacotay, who seemed to have several people standing around him.

"Well have to start somewhere I guess." Kathryn said but she felt Tom's hand on her arm.

"I am not sure about him, I didn't like the way he looked at you." Tom hissed under his breath, and Kathryn had to agree. She was however not going to voice that out loud, for all she knew, Tom had been in her quarters to borrow a cup of sugar.

"Right now for all we know he is the Captain of this ship, and we are crew members, I think a little discretion is in order here." Kathryn said removing herself from Tom's grip and moving forward. She felt Tom follow her, she knew he would, and for a brief moment she was glad.

"So it's agreed, I will go to the bridge and see what they have found out." Chacotay finished as the petite woman he had met earlier approached. There was something about her, the way she carried herself maybe, or the look in her eyes, but something drew him to her. She looked up at him now and inclined her head.

"Would you mind some company, surely it would be safer than going alone." Kathryn asked as Tom also nodded his head from behind her and smiled sweetly at Chacotay. He wasn't especially pleased that the tall blonde haired man wanted to come along also, but Chacotay had no reason to forbid him to do so. This was a strange situation, none of them knew who, or why they were hear, and right now, having someone along for the journey would be prudent.

"Yes sure I think that would be a good idea." Chacotay finally replied as a sharp bang made them all jump.

"Damm it, stupid thing." B'Elanna exclaimed from behind the hatch as she picked up a tool kit from behind the counter and began fixing the broken burner.

"You know how to fix that?" Kathryn said running over to the woman and peering over the counter.

"Of course I, wait a minute. Yeah I just picked this up and began using it, didn't even occur to me." B'Elanna said now staring down at the instrument. She had no idea what it was called, or even her own name, but she knew what it did, and how to fix the burner.

"Very strange, we should report this." Kathryn said now moving towards the doors, followed by Chacotay and Tom, the three of them exited the mess hall and made their way to the turbo lift.

=/\=

Tuvok was monitoring the surrounding space while Harry worked on the computer. Nothing had come into sensor range so far, but Tuvok couldn't shake his uneasy feeling. It wasn't just the fact that none of them remembered who they were, but how it was so selective, they all possessed the knowledge of how the ship worked, they all could operate the systems, and yet they still had no idea who they were. His thoughts were interrupted by the Doctor coming back onto the bridge. He certainly seemed to be the Captain, his rank insignia also suggested this, the question now was who were the rest of them.

Getting on to the turbo lift Kathryn stood between the two men, she felt so small, they both stood almost a head taller than her, and yet she felt like she was the biggest person in the small lift. Silence had fallen among them, Kathryn's thoughts turned to how this had all started, she had been in the blonde man's arms, she was sure of it. She wondered about their relationship, wondered if she had forgotten something special, and felt a pang of regret. Looking at him now she offered him a smile before the turbo lift stopped and to doors opened. Stepping out on to the bridge Kathryn for the briefest of moments felt like she was coming home.

"Can I help you?" The Doctor said coming over to them as they spread out across the deck.

"We were hoping we could get some information, we have about fifty very confused people down in the mess hall." Chacotay said as the Doctor nodded and walked them over to the control panel Harry was working on.

"How is it going?" The Doctor asked as Harry turned to him.

"Computer please display crew manifest."

"The file is incomplete, only senior staff assignments are available." The computer replied as Harry turned to the Doctor and shrugged.

"Guess it's better than nothing." Harry said asking the computer to display manifest.

"Commanding officer, Captain Doc Roberto, Executive officer Commander Jeff Anderson, Second officer Lt Commander Chacotay, Third officer Lt Commander Kathryn Janeway. Chief tactical officer Lt Commander Tuvok, Chief engineer Lt B'Elanna Torres, chief medical officer, Lt Tomas Paris."

Everyone looked around, the Doctor looked at each member of his crew now and quickly familiarised himself with their names.

"Well at least we know who we are now, maybe I should bring you up to speed with the mission we are supposed to be on." The Doctor said turning to the three people who had just arrived on the bridge.

"Yes I think that would be a good idea, also I think there is something you should know." Kathryn said as she followed their Captain into what looked like some kind of private room.

"Yes what is it?" The Doctor said turning to Kathryn now, who was feeling a little awkward at being out of uniform.

"Umm your chief engineer, well she is currently cooking dinner in the mess hall."

TBC...

I am hoping to put some funny moments into this, please let me know if you would like for me to continue, all suggestions welcomed. Thanks for reading XxX


	2. Chapter 2

As they followed the Doctor into the ready room, Kathryn once again had a familiar feeling about the room. It was more than just having been here before. She knew as third officer she must have visited this room on many occasions, but it was somehow more than that. Deciding that right now was not the appropriate moment to voice her somewhat indescribable feelings she stood shoulder to shoulder with Tom and waited for the Captain to speak.

"Well at least now I know what to call you all. I think first order of business is to get everyone we can back to where they are supposed to be. Starting with our chief engineer. Then find other assignments for the remainder of the crew." The Doctor said taking a seat behind the desk and looking at the three people staring down at him.

"So what about our mission sir?" Chakotay asked, he had seemed distant since they had arrived on the bridge, and Kathryn was wondering what had happened in that time to make him close of to them.

"We are on a mission that is of great importance, it seems as though the federation is at war with a species called the Lanterians. What we are experiencing now seems to be an effect of their new weapon. Which is the reason we were sent to destroy their command base. Obviously in our current condition we cannot attempt this just yet. I am hoping we can either regain our memories, or enough knowledge of the ship and its operations to complete our mission." Tom felt tense, he knew the Captain was going to ask him to research a cure, after all he was the chief medical officer. Yet he had no idea where to begin. While everyone else appeared to have retained their knowledge of ships systems and operations, he was almost completely in the dark about medical issues.

"I will start in the mess hall sir, I know the people down there. Maybe I can figure out who needs to help in the engine room." Chakotay responded first and Tom let out a small breath of air. Kathryn apparently noticed and gave him a small concerned look.

"Good, I want you Kathryn, and the Doctor to go down to the lab and start working on some way to counteract this weapons effects. We are on a deadline here, it seems we are the key component in a larger attack." The Doctor continued as Kathryn felt the need to place her hands on her hips and protest her assignment. She was after all third officer, surely her place was on the bridge. On the other hand going with Tom and spending sometime alone with him held a certain appeal also. Kathryn quickly pushed the thought out of her head and stood to attention.

"One hour people and then I expect a progress report." The Doctor finished with before dismissing them. Once they had left the room the Doctor turned to the report on his screen, something wasn't sitting right with him. It wasn't so much that he had forgotten who he was, although it was a big issue. But that he felt somehow that destroying this command centre was wrong. Pushing the thought aside the chime went on his door.

"Come in." He called out and Commander Anderson walked in. For a moment the Doctor held a smile on his face, but the troubled look his XO's was giving him soon changed the Doctor's expression.

"Sir I am sorry to bother you, but I am worried that we maybe attacked again. We cannot loose the ship to the Lanterians, if we do the mission will be a failure. That means many more lives will be lost." Jeff said coming up and resting both palms on the desk. The Doctor didn't like the fact that he was being looked down upon so he stood. Walking over to the windows.

"I understand your concern, however we have seen no indication that any hostile ships are in the area. If we do then we will take every precaution to evade them. For now though it is too risky to continue with our mission until we know more." The Doctor said feeling that it was the correct decision, at least for now he had time on his side. How long that would last however was up for debate.

"As you wish sir, but please do not wait too long." With that Anderson left the Doctor alone.

=/\=

When Chakotay reached the mess hall he was shocked at the scene laid before him. There was food everywhere, most of the crew seemed to be wearing most of the broth B'Elanna had been making, and a rather fury individual was wearing the brewing pot on his head. It was being held there by the woman in question who was brandishing a wooden spoon above her head.

"Call my broth tasteless will you, well I tell you what, next time to add some flavour maybe I will slice off some of your body parts." B'Elanna hissed at the poor being inside the pot. His answering mumble was all Chakotay heard before he took control of the situation.

"What in hell is going on here, I know we have lost our memories, but that doesn't turn us into animals. Let him up Lieutenant." Chakotay said while pulling the engineer up to her feet, and taking hold of her somewhat non lethal weapon.

"Who the hell do you think you are?" B'Elanna shouted as she stopped wiggling long enough to process all of Chakotay's sentence.

"And what did you call me?"

"I am Lt Commander Chakotay, second officer of this ship, and you are Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, chief engineer. I know hard to believe." Chakotay finished with a slight smile on his face as B'Elanna relaxed slightly, going from angry to confused in a moment.

"Ok so I'm not the cook?" She said cautiously, as she watched Chakotay shake his head and B'Elanna pulled of the apron and threw it in Neelix's direction.

"Well then, have at it fury man, I will be down in the engine room." B'Elanna strode towards the doors. As they parted she took a left turn, then stopped walked back to the mess hall and looked inside to see the rest of the crew looking back at her.

"Where the hell is the engine room?"

=/\=

As Tom and Kathryn walked through the decks of the ship, they did so in silence, looking at the plans as they went. Though the space seemed familiar to them both, neither really knew where they were going. Finally they found sick bay and entered, Tom did not have the same feeling as when he walked on the bridge. This place almost seemed to make him want to leave. Keeping the thought to himself he went over to the desk and pulled the monitor around so they could both see it. Unsure how to begin he started with pulling up and the information he had on the crew. There was limited information. Some recent bio scans, and basic physiology was all he had to go on. Feeling more and more out of his depth he finally turned to Kathryn who was examining one of the experiments.

"Do you know what this is?" She asked as Tom walked over to her. Her sent immediately invading his senses again. Tom simply could not shake the feeling that they were somehow more than just friends, it was something Tom was keen to ask her about, but right now they had more pressing matters at hand. Taking the test tube from her he looked at it. Turning it in his fingers until he sighed and replaced the vial.

"Actually no, I don't seem to be able to recall much of anything about medicine. I know how some of this stuff works, but most of it is a mystery to me." Tom finally admitted as Kathryn hopped up on to the bio bed and allowed her feet to dangle.

"Maybe its an effect of the weapon, you can't blame yourself." Kathryn said wanting to reach out and touch him for reassurance, but at the last minute she decided against it.

"Probably, but I have a feeling its more than that. Everyone else seems to be able to remember how the ship works, what their station does, how to do their job, all I can remember is how to take a basic medical scan." Tom said picking up the tricorder and flipping it open.

"How about you start with what we have, you know what our brain scans should look like, you have that information, maybe of you scan me now you can compare them and see if something shows up that shouldn't be there." Kathryn suggested and Tom had to admit it was a good plan. Instructing her to lie down he pushed the scanner on the bed over her head and started it up. Telling her to remain completely still, Tom placed his hand on her shoulder to make sure she did as he asked. The heat from her skin was radiating through his hand, and Tom had to concentrate hard on what he was doing. The sound of her voice almost made him jump into the air.

"What do you really think you were doing in my quarters?" Kathryn asked, her voice was small but her tone was forceful. As though she was making herself say the words. Tom was sure it took a lot of courage to start this particular conversation.

"I honestly don't know, but I do get a feeling that we are something more than just friends." Tom said deciding that right now, while she couldn't move, and her face was obscured from his vision by the scanner, it was the perfect opportunity to have this discussion. Her responding silence made Tom's heart skip slightly, thinking he may have said the wrong thing he kept his own council until she spoke up again.

"I have a feeling that Commander Chakotay thinks the same thing." She said almost wistfully as the scanner completed its cycle and retracted back to the head of the bed.

"Great a love triangle, where no one is even sure if it exists. For all we know, it me and and him that have something going and you're jealous." Tom said thinking making a joke out of the sudden awkward situation might be the best cause of action.

"If you do happen to discover that is the truth, can I watch?" Kathryn said with a rye little smile as she jumped off the bio bed and left Tom standing behind her his jaw left agape.

=/\=

"I have a ship on long range scanners sir." Harry reported as the Doctor came back on to the bridge when the alert went off.

"Evasive manoeuvres get us out of here." The Doctor ordered as Lt Bennett did as she was asked and got them out of sensor range and on a heading back the way they had come.

"Tactical report Mr Tuvok." The Doctor said turning to the tall dark man behind him.

"The ship is small carrying limited weapons. Its shields would have been no match for even one of our photon torpedo's." The Vulcan responded, he looked the same as always, detached aloof, but there was something in his voice that suggested confusion. It echoed the Doctors own thoughts, as he was sure the rest of the crew.

"We should have destroyed it, what if they report back to their command post and they send their fleet after us." Commander Anderson said getting up out of his chair and walking across the bridge.

"I am not going to destroy a ship for no reason commander, especially when we have no idea why they are out here, or what they were doing." The Doctor replied looking from face to face, he wasn't sure if he was looking for support or simply no more protest to his decision. Either way it was done now and they were going to have to live with it.

"Hold position here, if more ships come then we will have to deal with it then." The Doctor said finally before retreating back to the ready room. Getting back into the silence felt good for a moment, but it allowed everything else to seep into his mind. Thankfully the comm. badge on his uniform chirped and pulled him from his thoughts.

"Chakotay to Captain Robinson."

"Go ahead Commander"

"I have managed to assign most of the crew to stations on the ship, I think we should be up to full operational performance within the hour." Chakotay reported as he stood in the hall way. He was alone and all he could think about was the two people in sick bay, he really didn't like the idea of Tom and Kathryn alone together.

"Ok Commander thank you. Could you report to the bridge please." The Doctor said not knowing what else to suggest to his officer. He caught the slight intake of breath through the comm. Line and waited for the commander to reply.

"I was thinking I could go and help the Doctor with his research." Chakotay said hoping that the Captain would have no idea of his true motive for his request.

"Ok Commander, and tell them I expect to here a report from them soon." The Doctor said thinking that it was as good an idea as any. Once Chakotay had confirmed that he would the comm. Line fell silent.

=/\=

For a moment Tom was left stunned by Kathryn's comment, but he wasn't about to let her have the last word on the matter. Saving the image on the scanner Tom moved over to the display and turned to look at the petite woman who was watching him, hands on her hips and eyebrow arched. It was a definite challenge, and one Tom was completely prepared to accept.

"I tell you what, if it turns out that myself and the Lt commander do indeed share something special, and we let you watch it will be on one condition." Tom said his tome playful, but his eyes bore into Kathryn's. Making her feel flustered under his gaze.

"And that would be?" She replied refusing to back down.

"That at some point you join in." Tom said copying her stance and not breaking her gaze. For a moment they stayed like that, the air was charged, both of them could feel it, yet neither of them moved.

"Deal, but if you and Chakotay were to invite me into your bed, I have no idea where I would go." Kathryn said playfully taking a step closer, feeling more confident now that they were both playing the same game.

"Oh I am sure we can squeeze you in somewhere." Tom said as the doors to the sick bay opened to reveal the absent third member of their conversation. Both of them froze looking at him, and wondering just how much the big man had heard.

TBC... Thank you for reading XxX


	3. Chapter 3

First off thank you for all the feedback on this story, and apologies for the long delay in updates. Life unfortunately got in the way.

Not knowing what exactly Chakotay had heard, Kathryn could only stand and watch as he crossed the room. A deep blush appearing on her pale skin as he did so. Avoiding eye contact with either man in the room, she simply stood and looked passed them towards the images of her brain hanging on the illuminated surface behind Tom's head.

Tom was also feeling particularly uncomfortable, but he had no option but to look at Chakotay as it seemed the large man was making a bee line for him. The look on his face was unreadable, plus even if it wasn't. Tom had no idea what this man's face would look like if he was pissed off.

"Report Doctor." Chakotay finally said standing no more than a foot away from Tom, with his body between Kathryn's and himself. Pushing the urge away to pull at his collar, to try and alleviate some of the heat now streaming from his body, Tom turned to the pictures behind him and pointed to a region of the brain.

"Unfortunately not much, I have brought up a previous brain scan of Lt. Janeway here and compared it to one I have just done. I can see no discrepancies in the scan what so ever. This portion of the brain is associated with memory, and yet there is nothing wrong with it. Well nothing I can see anyway." Tom said pointing out the portion of the brain he was referring to. Chakotay leaned in for a closer inspection. In truth he had no idea what he was looking at, but he at least wanted to appear as though he did.

"Ok so what is the next step?" Chakotay asked now turning to both people standing in the room. He had noticed the blush covering the face of their third officer and now his attention seemed to be making her colour more.

"We could try more scans, see if anything turns up on those, but it is doubtful." Tom said trying to draw Chakotay's eyes away from Kathryn, who was now starting to fold her arms and tilt her chin. Tom could see the tense stance of the woman, and suspecting an outburst quickly intervened.

"Agreed, what about therapy's, is there anything you could try to bring back our memories?" Chakotay asked, glancing back at Kathryn once more before turning back to Tom.

"I haven't got a clue to be honest, but I am worried about how selective this memory wipe is. I mean if you wanted to completely disable a ship why not just wipe the entire memory, not leave us with the knowledge of how to run it. Further more how this was done without effecting any other part of the brain is amazing really. We don't seem to have any problem learning or remembering, only recalling our names and former lives." Tom concluded, virtually thinking out loud as Chakotay listened.

"I see, what I need to know is how do you plan on counteracting what has happened, and how long it is going to take?" Chakotay said stepping back slightly so he could view both people in the room at once.

"I don't know, maybe if I got hold of the weapon its self I might be able to determine how it works, then start on an antidote, but there may not be a cure, I hate to say this but looking at these scans, with nothing I can repair, our memories might simply have been erased." Tom said as the room fell silent, all three people pondering that fact for a moment. It was a lot to take in.

"Then I shall leave you to your work." Chakotay said turning to leave, as he did so he called over his shoulder.

"Lieutenant could you come with me please I require your assistance in engineering." With that Kathryn nodded. Glad to be out of the awkward situation, but slightly regretful that she had to leave Tom. Also from the tone Kathryn had ascertained that this was pretty much a direct order, and arguing would be pointless.

"Aye sir." she replied quickly falling into step behind Chakotay. With a single glance back over her shoulder at Tom, Kathryn exited sickbay and moved down the hall towards engineering.

"So what do you need my help with?" Kathryn asked as then entered the turbo lift. Chakotay called out the deck number before replying.

"Crowd control."

Harry Kim stood on the bridge, he really had nothing to do right now, as they were just hanging in space. Also he was one of the only crew members on the bridge who did not have a name. The Captain had taken to calling him Simon, claiming that he looked like a Simon. Harry didn't see it himself, but he was getting used to the name.

"Mr Simon, can I have your report on the long range sensor sweep." The Captain said walking onto the bridge as Commander Anderson sat more upright in his chair.

"Nothing on long range sensors sir, no other ships have approached our position since the first one." Harry answered as the Captain sat down and placed both hands on the rest in front of him. He took in a deep breath, and shut his eyes momentarily.

"I have made my decision, it seems that a lot of people are counting on us to make this final strike against the Lanterians, even incapacitated we need to at least attempt to complete our mission. I will however be re-evaluating this decision as our journey continues. Please note you were probably chosen for this mission because you are all excellent at your jobs." The Doctor said just as his flickered out and then back in again. The room around him gasped in surprise before the Doctor stood up and patted himself down.

"What was that." He cried running his hands down his arms to check he was real before coming into contact with the small triangle devise attached to his left arm. Pulling it off the rest of the crew watched as their Captain disappeared before their very eyes. Silence fell around the room before Harry placed his hands on his console and said.

"Well I've never seen that happen before."

Tuvok then turned to him eyebrow raised. "That may in fact be untrue, we all may have seen that before, we simply can't remember it. However it doesn't change the fact that we now have no Captain."

"Wrong, if the Captain is incapacitated, or in this case vanished, then command falls to me. And I think we should do what the Captain suggested, continue with our mission." Anderson said standing up and moving into the Captains chair. Sitting down he pushed the small metal object left by the Doctor under the seat and placed his hands in his lap.

"Lieutenant set course for the Lanterian home world, warp 6 engage."

Engineering looked like a scene from the ok coral, not that either person walking into the room could remember that particular situation, but right as they approached the threshold to the turbo lift, Kathryn had to duck as a rogue tool hit the back of the lift.

"Enough you are all useless, I will do it myself." B'Elanna shouted as a crew member in a gold uniform scurried across the room.

"What is going on in here?" Chakotay boomed turning all eyes onto him as the room fell into an uneasy silence.

"You have given me a bunch of monkey's too work with, that's what is going on." B'Elanna replied stalking over to where the pair now stood looking around at several crew members who looked ready to kill their chief.

"Maybe its the way your going about things lieutenant, maybe a calmer approach would be more beneficial,given the circumstances." Chakotay said as B'Elanna crossed her arms and Kathryn stepped forward.

"First of all what in the world is a monkey, and second what is the problem?" Kathryn asked wondering where that reference had come from, and secretly hoping it was a random memory returning. Kathryn hoped she would have a reason to go back and see Tom.

"I have no idea, and the warp manifest is out of alignment, I need someone to repair the upper level controls, while I work on the manifest, but no one seems to know what they are doing." B'Elanna said unfolding her arms and looking across at the petite woman who was not looking at her.

"Ok, have you asked around?" Kathryn suggested, knowing that she wasn't sure if she could do what B'Elanna was asking herself, but there must be someone on board who could.

"No I just assigned the task, I thought all of these people had engineering experience." B'Elanna said the anger now draining out of her as she realised her mistake.

"Ok well let's see if we can't get you some help. Janeway to all crew, does anyone know how to reconfigure the engineering consoles?"

"Hi yeah I do, its well Simon on the bridge." The man on the other end of the comm line sounded young, but also pretty sure he knew what he was doing. Janeway smiled slightly.

"Ok Simon we could use your help please come down to engineering."

"On my way." Harry replied, as he walked down the ramp he walked over to the Captain's chair to get his nod of approval. Spotting the small metal object on the floor just behind the Captain's chair, Harry walked around and back up the ramp. Pretending to drop his communicator he quickly bent down to retrieve it, picking up the small object as he did so. Turning to Tuvok he gave the dark man a weak smile.

"Must have come loose when I tapped it." He said offhandedly before walking into the turbo lift and calling out for deck thirty six.

Arriving at his detestation Harry stepped off the lift into a much calmer engineering. Chakotay had rounded up all the people who seemed to have limited knowledge of what they were doing and had ordered them to the mess hall. There was no other place to put them for now. Kathryn had been talking to B'Elanna about her reference to something called a monkey, but the hot headed engineer had no information on what it was, or why she said it.

"Are you Simon?" Kathryn said as Harry approached them and he nodded.

"Well I am for now." He said with a slight smile as the older woman nodded at him.

"Before I help could you take a look at this ma'am, I think its the Captain." Harry said handing over the mobile emitter, as Janeway looked shocked and turned the object over in her hand.

"What happened, how is this the Captain." She asked as Chakotay joined them and listened as Harry told his story.

"I think maybe you should take it to the Doctor, there is something about Commander Anderson I don't like." Harry said going a bit red in the face as he did so. Chakotay reached out and patted the young man's shoulder.

"I know the feeling Simon, but for now he is our commanding officer and unless he puts us or this ship in danger we have to obey him." Chakotay said realising that he was now the XO of this ship.

"I should go back up to the bridge and keep an eye on things. Kathryn take that to Tom and see what you can come up with." He said turning now with Kathryn back for the turbo lift, looking back quickly he saw Harry and B'Elanna set to work and was glad he had sorted that situation out now at least.

"Sickbay." Kathryn called out as Chakotay leant against the back of the lift and asked for the bridge.

"Let me know as soon as you have something. Simon is right, there is something off about Commander Anderson." Chakotay said as the lift stopped and opened at deck six.

"Ok I will." Kathryn replied with a small smile. Stepping out she caught a slight glint in Chakotay's eye before the lift doors started to close. His words now flowing out between the ever decreasing gap.

"Also if I have a say, I would put you in the middle."

in an instant Kathryn's blush returned, clutching onto the mobile emitter she practically ran for sickbay wondering how on earth she was going to live this one down.

Tom had been going around in circles, nothing he had tried had restored his memory. With no one else to test he had tried experimenting on himself. Right now he was having trouble controlling what he was saying. When Kathryn walked in the first words that came out of his mouth almost made her drop what she had brought to show him.

"Amazing breasts." Clapping his hand over his mouth before anything else came out, Kathryn went from anger to a small smile to almost breaking out with laughter.

"Sorry I injected myself with this. Pretty good, but has some unfortunate consequences. Kiss me, dam it!" Tom said once more as Kathryn walked over to him. However she had no intention of for filling his request. She set the mobile emitter on the table and pointed at it.

"This is somehow the Captain, maybe he is some artificial life form, but we need to figure out how to turn him back on." Kathryn said as Tom picked up the item and rolled it around in his fingers. There was something very familiar about it, not trying to force the memory, but to simply feel and recognise what he was looking at he fiddle with the object for a moment before it buzzed to life and an image appeared.

"Please state the nature of the medical emergency." The Doctor said stepping forward to the two confused people and looking at each of them in turn.

"Extreme sexual frustration." Tom said before trying to hide his face behind his hands as the Doctor placed his hands on his hips.

"Nothing new there then Mr Paris. What about you Captain, same thing or were you just making sure he didn't hurt himself." The Doctor said as he watched Janeway's jaw slacken and her face pale.

"Captain, are you sure, we thought you were." She said stumbling over her words before the Doctor shook his head.

"No I'm a Doctor not a Captain."

TBC... Thank you for reading XxX


	4. Chapter 4

It took the Doctor nearly half an hour of explaining and convincing, before Janeway would accept the truth. Finally though a plan was formed. It was quite clear that one person did not belong on this ship, and yet to simply expose him could be dangerous.

"We have no idea how this memory weapon works. If he is exposed he could simply erase all our memories once more, and start again." Janeway said as Tom put forward the barrelling in there and pinning him to the table approach.

"Ok then can we at least agree that going and starting a war with these Lanterians is probably not a good idea. In fact it seems this isn't even our quadrant, let alone our enemy." Tom said folding his arms. The problem was bigger than he had imagined. Only an hour ago his main concern was figuring out a way to return everyone's memory. Which was a pretty big problem, but it also held some interesting facets. Including his now Captain, who was already visibly distancing herself from him.

"Agreed, but convincing the rest of the crew who they really are is going to be harder than it sounds. I mean, I know you say I am the Captain, that we have been travelling home for nearly six years, and there is no way we would attack another race, but I don't remember any of that. I have been living as someone else for nearly twenty four hours, and right at this moment she is far more familiar to me than Captain Janeway." Hanging her head slightly Janeway placed her hand on the nearby bio bed. She felt a light touch on her shoulder. Looking up into the eyes of the Doctor she studied his smile for a moment before he spoke.

"There is far more Captain in you than you realise Kathryn." He said giving her shoulder a light squeeze.

"It's not about a title, it's who you are." The Doctor finished, removing his hand and turning to look at the scans Paris had taken earlier. Janeway thought back to the moment she had first stepped onto the bridge. How it had seemed somehow more familiar than even her own quarters, that something way down deep inside her had told her this was home. Now she watched Tom closely as he looked everywhere in the room except at her.

"Ok I think I have a plan. Doctor you stay here and see if you can try and find a cure for this memory loss. Tom come with me, we are going to need some help." With a final nod to the Doctor, Janeway exited sickbay with Tom in tow. He walked just a step behind her left shoulder, and she did not like this new position. Halting her stride for a moment, she allowed Tom to catch her up. He stopped next to her, looking down at her with a quizzical expression.

"I think we should keep what we know to ourselves for now. We cannot risk, anyone going to Commander Anderson, or whatever the hell his name is, and saying we are trying to ensue a mutiny. No we will start with B'Elanna, send her to the Doctor and get him to convince her, like he did with us. We will ultimately need her help." Janeway said now moving forward once more but keeping her pace unusually slow.

"Ok so what are we going to do, we must only be a few hours away from reaching the Lantarians borders." Tom replied as they boarded the turbo lift and Janeway called for the bridge.

"We are going to tell the Commander that you have found a cure for the memory loss and attempt to force his hand." Janeway said as she quickly tapped her comm badge and spoke briefly to B'Elanna, who was less than happy to have to go to sickbay, but complied all the same. Just as Janeway ended her communication with the chief engineer the doors to the turbo lift opened.

Chakotay had been stewing in his chair for the past hour, the scenes he had witnessed in sickbay were still bothering him. It wasn't just the fact that he was he was kind of jealous, but it was something deeper, within himself, that Kathryn Janeway belonged to him, or at least something about her did. It was silly really, and totally inappropriate for it to be occupying his mind whilst he was also in charge of formulating the crew battle drills. Deciding he would work better on the bridge. He picked up his PADD and walked out of his office, down the hall and onto the bridge beside the Captain's ready room. He noticed Anderson in the Captain's chair, and assumed that no one had come up with an explanation as to why the Captain had turned off, or for that matter how.

"Chakotay, how are those rosters coming?" Anderson said as Chakotay sat himself in the first officers chair. The sensation, for a moment, was overwhelmingly familiar.

"I am about done, it was getting a bit quiet in my office." Chakotay said giving Anderson a quick smile before turning his attention back to his PADD. It could have been no longer than a minute before the turbo lift doors opened and who walked out, but the two people he had been trying to avoid.

To add insult to injury, as the pair walked down the ramp to join them on the main deck, neither of them paid him any attention. Both focused on Commander Anderson. It was Janeway who spoke first, she seemed to be carrying herself differently, more upright, more confident. If anything Chakotay secretly thought it made her look even better. His thoughts were suddenly quelled by Janeway's request to speak to the Commander in private. Her tone was serious and the entire bridge seemed to still before Anderson stood up and invited her into the ready room. Chakotay watched the three as they walked off the bridge, the muffled noises of hushed conversation filled his ears and he could control himself no longer. What he heard was something in his current frame of mind, was the final straw.

"Get on with your work, speculation and rumours are not part of your job description." Silence followed, but only for a few minutes before Chakotay heard Janeway and Paris's names mentioned again followed by hushed giggles. This time he chose to say nothing.

"What s it that I can do for you?" Anderson said, sitting in Janeway's chair and placing his hands on her desk. It was hard for Janeway not to go immediately to Tom's first idea of pinning him to that desk and forcing the information out of him. Knowing however that that could put her ship and crew in danger, the only evidence of her anger was a slight eyebrow twitch. It was clear only a moment after, that Tom had noticed her change in mood, but Anderson lent back in his chair completely unaware.

"Umm I think I have found way to reverse the effect of the memory loss." Tom said jumping in before Janeway said something she may come to regret. It was also the reason why they had come here, there was no point putting it off any longer.

"Oh well, umm that is good news." Anderson said, his words were of pleasure, but his body language told another story. He slightly squirmed in his chair, and his hands clasped together tightly.

"Yes we think the answer lies in the hypothalamus, stimulation of that part of the brain, over several days should slowly bring back the forgotten memories stored there." Paris continued, hoping that this alien would have no idea that he had just made all of that up.

"This is good news, but probably won't be in time for our scheduled attack on the Lanterians, maybe we should postpone any medical treatment until our mission is complete." Anderson replied, coming back to sit with his hands resting on the desk.

"I don't think that is wise sir, I mean if something goes wrong out there, surely a crew with their memories in tacked would be a better option." Janeway said trying to press the issue as Anderson eyed her with contempt.

"This attack has been co-ordinated at Starfleet we need to be at the base on time, or this entire mission may fail. No my decision is final, leave the memory experiments until after we have completed our mission." With that Anderson told them they were dismissed. Janeway gave Tom a rye smile as they left the Captain's ready room. For now their job here was done, they had to go back to sickbay and see how the Doctor was doing. Walking into the turbo lift Tom went to call out the destination but a hand appearing in the gap at the doors stopped him.

"Chakotay." Janeway acknowledged, she was unsure how to treat him now. He was her first officer, and according to the Doctor her best friend. Yet all she felt from him now was distance.

The icy atmosphere inside the lift was horrific. No one moved, no one even seemed to breath as the lift made it way to their destination. The only noise the humming from the machine they were stood in.

"Ok I can't take this any more, will someone please say something, or I may have to break out in song." Tom said finally exasperated as Janeway gave him a death glare, and Chakotay fixed his gaze on the wall in front of him. It was just as Janeway was about to say something that the doors opened on deck six and Tom stepped out quicker than a rat up a drain pipe. Janeway followed him, sure that Chakotay would be continuing on his journey. His voice behind them made her stop.

"I need a word Kathryn." He said his tone light.

"Sorry Chakotay I have something very important to do." She replied thinking that would be the end of it and she turned away from him.

"Lieutenant, that wasn't a request." Chakotay intoned, and Janeway almost didn't respond, forgetting for a moment that she wasn't a Captain to him, not yet, she was his subordinate.

"Sorry sir. Tom go ahead I will be there soon." Janeway turned and quickly ushered Tom away. With slight reluctance he went. Knowing that Janeway could handle herself, she also knew time was of the essence.

"What can I do for you Commander?" Janeway said cautiously, taking a quick glance behind her to make sure Tom was out of ear shot.

"I want to know what do you think you are doing, I know strictly speaking your relationship with Tom is none of my business, but it becomes my business when it is interfering with your duties." Chakotay said now folding his arms and looking directly down at her. Janeway felt her fist tighten at her side. She knew it wasn't his fault he didn't know, and in all honesty he was sort of right. It didn't however quell the urge to punch him in the nose.

"For your information sir, I have been working with the Doctor on a cure of the memory loss, we are close, and that is why we came to see the Captain. I have been order back there to continue." Janeway said now raising herself to full height, intent on turning on her heal and leaving. The hand on her shoulder to prevent her from doing so came as a bit of a shock. Next thing she knew her fist was connecting with the underside of Chakotay's nose. His head snapping backwards thumped into the bulk head. His eyes for a second popped wide open, before he pitched forward and fell flat on his face at her feet.

"Shit." Janeway exclaimed poking the now unconscious Chakotay with the toe of her shoe. Grabbing him under the armpits, and virtually dragging his face across the floor. Janeway dragged the man down the corridor and, huffing for every breath, she managed to activate the door sensors to sickbay.

"A little help here." She called out as quietly as possible, as three heads appeared around the corner.

"Now that is funny." B'Elanna said moving forward first as Kathryn dropped Chakotay's body unceremoniously onto the floor.

"Ok less sniping more helping." Kathryn glared at the woman before the half Klingon moved towards her and grabbed one of Chakotay's arms.

"So Captain how are you planning on explaining this one?" B'Elanna asked as the guys came over and positioned Chakotay on one of the bio beds in the back.

"Well i'm not sure, but for now that doesn't matter. Umm Captain?" Janeway said cutting off mid sentence and giving B'Elanna a small uneven smile.

"Yeah the doc here filled me in, then gave me some stuff. I think I can remember somethings from before. They are still fuzzy, but definitely memories." B'Elanna continued as the Doctor strode over with a hypo-spray.

"This may make you feel a little disorientated, and may cause you to have flash backs. But it will bring back your memory." The Doctor said raising it to Janeway's neck before she backed away.

"I need a clear head right now Doctor, you can do me when its all over." Janeway replied as the Doctor turned to Tom who was already holding up his hands.

"I think I will be ok until this is done. But may I suggest you start with Chakotay. This might all be easier to explain when he wakes up, if he kind of knows who he is." Tom said looking down at the man below him, who was now developing two nice black eyes.

"Ok, but as soon as this is over I want everyone in here to have their memories reversed." The Doctor said conceding as B'Elanna, Tom and Kathryn walked over to a corner of sickbay.

"Ok the plan now is to sabotage the ship. Get anyone you can with the hypo-spray. It will make them easier to convince to help us. The main thing is we don't alert Anderson to all of this, we have no idea how his memory weapon works, and we can't afford to go through all this again, there would be no guarantee that next time we would figure out what was going on." Janeway said as B'Elanna and Tom both took a hypo-spray and tucked it away inside their uniform.

"Ok Tom and I will start with the bridge crew, we will try and mess things up from there. B'Elanna you go down to engineering. Get the engines off line, without damaging them too much. Once all this has happened, hopefully we will be in a position to take care of Anderson." Janeway finished.

There was no more than needed to be said, all three moved out of sickbay and off to their prospective destinations.

Their walk to the turbo lift was silent, as was their ride to the bridge, but both Janeway and Paris knew they would have much to discuss when this was all over. And for a moment colour rose in her cheeks, as she thought not only about their encounter in sickbay, but of poor Chakotay lying on the bio bed. How on earth was she going to even start explaining that one?

TBC... XxX


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you so much to all those who have reviewed, you have inspired this next chapter.

The doors open up and before them stood the bridge. Both Janeway and Paris expected something to feel different. Some kind of recognition for the people moving around, seemingly unaware of their presence. Yet they did not recognise anyone beyond the simple introduction they had all earlier shared. A brief, but silent moment of disappointment passed between them, as they simultaneously stepped out on to the bridge. Janeway spotted Anderson almost immediately. He was in deep conversation with Tuvok. Janeway was sure it was about the upcoming attack on the Lanterians. She knew if she was going to hit anyone with the hypo-spray, Tuvok would be the best choice.

Tom watched as a few crew members filtered across his path, he couldn't decide who would be the most important people to inject. It was crucial that he get the right person. The hypo only contained enough for three doses. Unsure what to do he watched as Janeway approached the Commander and, seemed to attempt to distract him away from Tuvok. Tom quickly realised what the Captain was trying to do. Replacing his hypo-spray back into his pocket, he thought his talents could be put to better use.

"Commander I need a word." Tom said now almost running up the gangway and coming to a halt beside Janeway.

"What can I do for you Doctor, I am quite busy." Anderson said folding his arms and looking less than impressed by all the disturbances.

"Its about that cure I found, I think I can administer it in one dose through the life support systems." Tom said looking enthusiastic. That got Anderson moving, he quickly left his conversation with Tuvok and escorted Tom towards the ready room.

Janeway wasted no time in administering Tuvok with the hypo-spray. For a second the Vulcan looked perplexed. Then slightly angry, and finally blinked and shook his head.

"Captain?" He questioned still unsure of what he was remembering, but some-things were pretty vivid.

"Wow that was fast, must be something to do with you being an alien. And yeah so i'm told. The Doc found a cure, not Tom the real Doctor, I haven't really got time to explain right now, but Anderson is not who he says he is. I think he will do us harm if we move to quickly. First thing is first though, we need to sweep Voyager for any kind of bomb or weapon. Then scan for any ships, including anything that maybe cloaked." Janeway finished as Tom was lead back out of the ready room, followed shortly by Anderson.

"Until we know the ship is clear we cannot risk exposing him." Janeway whispered at the last moment before Anderson rejoined them.

"Mr Tuvok I expect your report in half and hour." Anderson barked as Tom walked forward slowly and took up position next to Janeway as she made her way down to the lower deck of the bridge.

"Get the pilot, she may be useful in stalling our approach." Janeway whispered to Tom, who was already approaching the younger blonde woman. A quick word in her ear, and a press on the hypo-spray into her neck was all it took. Tom then lightly squeezed the woman's shoulder and stood up.

"That should clear you headache right up." Tom said quickly as Anderson returned to the Captain's chair and sat down. He eyed Janeway and Paris with suspicion, and Janeway knew it was time to leave. They could not have their operation blown, not when they were so close.

"Doctor would you join me in the cargo bay, I need to do a final check on the photon torpedo's." Janeway said, nodding at Anderson as she left his field of vision. If he returned the gesture, Janeway did not see it, for she did not look back to check. Getting back on the turbo lift, Tom let out a long puff of breath and lent back against the bulk head behind him.

"Wow that was awkward, I feel like we are trying to take over our own ship. Maybe we should hit ourselves with a dose of this stuff." Tom said turning his hypo-spray over in his palm.

"No we need to get as many people as possible, the more that are on our side the better, and we haven't enough time to return to sickbay." Janeway said as she called out deck ten, and the lift began to move.

B'Elanna's first mission was to get Harry. Smiling slightly to herself at the sound of the name Simon being called, she quickly whipped of the expression and made her way over to the dark haired young man.

"I'll be right there." He called absently over his shoulder, not realising that B'Elanna was right behind him. She did not want him to get startled by her approach however so she coughed slightly. Harry's head promptly connected with the table above him and he clutched it with both hands.

"Sorry didn't mean to startle you Harry." B'Elanna said with a rye smile.

"That's ok, just a little headache is all." Harry replied. It took only a second later to realise what the woman hovering above him had just said.

"What did you call me?"

"Harry, that's your name. I need you to be quite and listen to me for a moment." B'Elanna started, keeping an eye out for anyone that might cause trouble, she quickly told Harry was what happening. While he listened, Harry's face dropped. Concern etched lines into his normally smooth skin, and finally B'Elanna hit him with her hypo-spray.

It took Harry a few minutes before he was able to speak again, the confusion still apparent on his face, even as he spoke her name.

"B'Elanna what on earth was that?" He said finally able to stand, B'Elanna helped him to his feet.

"Something the Doctor came up with, but our main priority is to stop this ship. We can't let Anderson reach his destination." B'Elanna continued handing Harry a hypo-spanner and pointing towards a Jeffreys tube.

"Agreed, but what are we going to do about Anderson?" Harry asked as they ducked down and started to crawl towards the bowels of the ship.

"Don't worry the Captain is working on it."

"You weren't lying about actually going to the cargo bay then?" Tom said turning to Janeway as she stood next to him. Hands resting lightly on her hips as she studied the far wall closely. Tom looked at it briefly too, as though something were actually there.

"Yes if B'Elanna is unsuccessful in stopping the ship, then we have to disable the weapons." Janeway replied not moving her gaze from the wall.

"But won't that leave us vulnerable?" Tom asked as the turbo lift slowed and finally stopped.

"Maybe, we won't touch the shields, and we will make sure we can at least fend off an attack if it comes. I have a sneaking suspicion however that we are in no danger from the Lanterians." Janeway replied as she stepped from the turbo lift out on to the deck. Tom followed, watching as she walked away from him. Not glancing back this time, and not waiting for him to catch up. He wasn't enjoying this new found distance between them. She had stepped into the Captain's shoes so easily, quickly taking control, and loosing the playfulness they had earlier shared. Tom found himself missing that. Nothing had really changed between them, they only difference now was they knew their real rank.

Entering the cargo bay they made their way over to the weapons storage area, Tom didn't think about what he was doing, he simply walked up behind Janeway and placed his hand on her shoulder. She jumped like it had burned her, her face held a moment of shock before she calmed down and quietly faced him.

"Tom you made me jump, what's up?" She questioned in an innocent tone, and yet her face betrayed her angst.

"Why won't you look at me any more, I thought we had something, you know before. Not to mention I was in your quarters when this all began, we still don't know why. And if I am remembering correctly, I was holding you." Tom said, his fear now subsiding, in replacement a mild anger had taken over.

"I know and I am sorry, it's just I don't know who I am, for moments I think I do, and then its gone. It's like grasping at smoke, I keep thinking I have it, and then I open my eyes and its gone." Janeway replied her head dropping slightly, and Tom quickly realised that it had all been an act. He wondered if she had always done this. If being a Captain was simply an act, and the woman in front of him now was the real Kathryn Janeway.

"We can correct that right now, take the serum and find out." Tom said knowing that she was going to refuse again, almost as soon as he said it.

"No, we don't have time now, we will be at our target in less than a hour." Janeway replied turning from him once more. This time Tom wasn't going to let her get away with ignoring him.

"Why don't you want to take it?" He asked her, keeping hold of the hand he had taken earlier. She tried to pull back, but he tightened his grip. The flash of anger he saw in her eyes frightened him for a moment. The it was gone, the fear had returned, yet this time she did not look away.

"I am not sure I want to know who I was, the brief flashes I get worry me. The anguish, the responsibility, sometimes its nice to forget. The person I am, and the person I will be again can wait, for now I am enjoying being free." It was Janeway's turn to squeeze Tom's hand, her thumb running over his skin, tracing small circles below his thumb. The sensation sent a warm feeling to the pit of his stomach. Wanting desperately to reach down and kiss her, Tom bent forward slightly. Tilting his head and moving slowly. He wanted to give her plenty of opportunity to back away from him. She did not move, her eyes fluttered shut just as his lips made contact with hers. Their shared heat causing both of them to moan slightly, almost in perceivably as Tom took a slight step forward to deepen the kiss. Janeway stepped back, her senses coming to her as she felt his hand reach behind neck.

"We shouldn't be doing this right now, we have a ship to save." She said licking her lips slightly and turning from him this time. Tom's slight groan of disappointment was covered by the sounds of the engines groaning, and finally going silent.

Janeway looked around quickly with a slight smile. "She's done it, ok, never mind about this, Anderson will want to know what has happened, and we need to be there." Janeway said, her demeanour changing in an instant as Voyager's lights flickered slightly. Running for the door, the pair burst out onto the deck and came across a pair of what seemed like security guards.

"I have orders to take you to commander Anderson." One of them said making a move to grab hold of Janeway. In an instant she had him off balance, sidestepping his first attempt to grab her. She quickly struck him in the back with her foot, sending him down to the floor, where leaping onto his prone body she administered the hypo-spray.

"Don't worry I won't reprimand you for this." Janeway said patting the guys shoulder, as she turned to see Tom with his man pressed up against the wall.

"Sorry mate but this will make you feel a whole lot better." Tom said also giving the guy a shot as he slumped to the floor.

"There is no time to wait for them, if Anderson wanted to bring us in, then he already suspects something is going on. We have to get to Tuvok, see what he has come up with." Janeway said looking around until she spotted a shaft in the bulk head.

"Where do you think this goes?" She asked as Tom pulled the hatch open and peered inside.

"Not a clue, but we will be harder to find in these,rather than wondering around the corridor." Tom replied as Janeway bent down and on all fours made her way along the tube. Tom followed closing the hatch behind them. Turning he was now glad the truth serum had warn off, for the thoughts running through his mind were best kept silent. He was surprised how much adrenaline made him think about sex, and for a moment, wondered if he had always been like that.

Tuvok had managed to sweep the entire ship, now more aware of what he was doing , it had been easy to cover his tracks. It was clear that Anderson trusted him, confident that his plan was working. Finally Tuvok had managed to determine that there was no threat to Voyager, and that the alien currently sitting in the Captain's chair was their only real obstacle. Now looking over at Ensign Bennett, he realised that she too knew something.

"Tuvok to Bennett, please change course by 0.5 degrees." Tuvok said under his breath, luckily Anderson did not seem to notice the minor course correction. In the next ten minuets Tuvok and Bennett managed to change course three more times, almost bringing Voyager on a perpendicular heading to their original course. It was in that moment the engines stalled. Anderson gave the order for Janeway and Paris to be brought to the bridge, and Tuvok knew their plan was about to be exposed. Thinking he could simply take Anderson now, Tuvok began to walk towards the Commander. It was clear only a few moments later that the Commander was not their only obstacle. Five officers surrounded the alien, unaware that they were protecting the wrong person.

"Mr Tuvok I cannot allow you to harm the Commander, this attempt at mutiny will end right here." Ayala said standing in front of Anderson a hand on his phaser that rested at his hip.

"It is you who are mistaken lieutenant, for I am trying to stop an attempt to take over this ship. The Commander is not who he appears to be." Tuvok replied calmly as Bennett slipped out unnoticed behind them.

"Take him to the brig, and when you find the others put them there too. We will complete this mission. Anyone who can get those engines back online report to engineering." Anderson said sitting back down in the Captain's chair, as Tuvok was escorted off the bridge.

Harry and B'Elanna lay low whilst crew members ran back and forth along deck thirty six. Looking at one another as the corridor went quiet they quickly pulled open the hatch and stepped outside.

"Ok engineering is a huge no no, and we can't go to the bridge, it's pretty obvious that most of the crew have brought into Anderson's conspiracy theory so even our own crew might take us down." B'Elanna said as they dashed around a corner and out of sight.

"Then we go find the Doc, he maybe able to hit everyone at once with this stuff." Harry said huffing for breath as another contingency of crew members funnelled passed.

"Ok, as long as they haven't gotten to him yet, but I think I can get him downloaded into his mobile transmitter, even if they have. Come on." With that B'Elanna pushed off the wall and ran for the nearest Jeffreys tube. Opening it quickly and dashing along the small mettle tube, Harry could only do his best to keep up. Without knowing what was going on in the rest of the ship, he knew it was up to them to do their best to try and save it. Harry allowed himself a little smile as B'Elanna paused at a bend and called for him to hurry up. At least he knew what his name was now.

Tom and Kathryn were hopelessly lost in the tunnels and tubes that ran through every part of Voyager. Knowing they would have to find and exit to get their bearings, they had tried to make sense of the maps covering several walls along the way. Unfortunately neither of them retained the knowledge to decipher them properly. Going on an educated guess, they found themselves in the middle of a crossroads. Literally.

"I think left, we have gone right so many times, left must go somewhere." Tom said moving towards the junction. Kathryn was shaking her head slightly, looking down one passageway after another. Trying to force the memories to the surface, yet nothing was working. Feeling inside her pocket for the hypo-spray she clutched it tightly. Letting go almost immediately she realised that its effects would take far too long to be of any use in this situation anyway.

"I say straight on, I don't know why I just have a feeling." Kathryn replied, not waiting for a reply, and merely going ahead with her plan.

"I guess the title of Captain has gone to your head after all." Tom commented under his breath as he followed Janeway down yet another tunnel. Her return glare was short lived as he hand met only air, and she all but tumbled out of the Jeffreys tube. Tom managed to reach forward and grab her around the hips, preventing her from landing on her face.

"Well this is awkward." Tom said with his mouth barely an inch away from Janeway's left butt cheek.

"Try letting me down then." She called out from below the rim of the tube. Tom did as was requested, not to do so would raise far too many questions.

Kathryn used her hands and arms to catch herself as she dropped the remaining two feet to the ground. Pushing herself up, and turning to see Tom seated in the entrance way, she was about to say something about him catching her but his expression caught her eye.

"What is it?" She asked as Tom's arm slowly raised up, his finger extending to point at something behind her. Kathryn turned slowly, noticing to computer core directly behind her. Its tall long column moving up through the ship, until it disappeared beyond her view. Attached to the bottom however was something she did see. It was clearly ticking, a timer counting down, in what looked like minutes and seconds.

"It's a bomb." Tom said unsure where that hypothesis had come from, but certain he was right. Janeway walked up to the device. She inspected it, getting down onto her hands and knees for a closer look.

"Insurance, do you think, in case things went wrong?" Tom suggested coming over to her and crouching down beside her.

"No going by the time left on this device, it is set to blow about fifteen minutes after our designated time for our attack. There was never any intention of letting us go. Or returning our memories." Kathryn replied, her hand falling on the device, a reverent pat sent a slight chill down Tom's spine.

"This changes everything, we need to disarm this bomb, there is no time to get anyone else, or to let the serum do it work, we have to remember Tom, we have to remember who we are." Kathryn said looking him directly in the eyes and begging him for answered. He could give her none. Turning to watch the clock tick down on the bomb he preyed he would remember something in time, he feared however that there wasn't enough remaining. 00.16.03, 00.16.02, 00.16.01, 00.16.00, 00.15.59...

TBC..

I did try to finish this in one go, but I there was far too much plot bunnies to contend with on this night. Please stay tuned for the next chapter, all reviews welcomed. Except the ones that tell me I have spelt Chakotay wrong in the first chapter, I know dam auto correct, attempts have been made to fix it. Thank you for reading XxX


	6. Chapter 6

Once again thank you for your reviews, I am glad this story is being so well received. If you are interested in reading more J/P fiction I would like to take the time to recommend a new M rated story called "You Are No Longer Alone.

Onwards

When Harry and B'Elanna finally reached sickbay, they were both huffing for breath. It seemed that everyone on Voyager displaying any unusual behaviour were being rounded up and taken away. So far the pair had managed to avoid detection but the net was closing in fast. Slipping through the doorway B'Elanna followed Harry into a dimly lit, and what appeared to be deserted sickbay. Even Chakotay was missing, his prone body which had occupied the bio bed less than an hour ago was gone, and so it seemed was the Doctor.

"Doc you here?" B'Elanna half shouted half whispered into the darkness.

"Please state the nature of the, never mind where have you been?" The Doctor said appearing almost in front of them as he hurriedly walked across the room , and had a good look around.

"Us, we have being stopping this ship, and trying to find out what is going on." Harry said now pointing towards the bio bed.

"What happened to the commander?" Harry asked his face falling into a concerned frown.

"Oh well there were patrols roaming the corridors, so I thought it best to hide him." The Doctor replied moving over towards the refrigerated isolation cubicles.

"You put him in the morgue?" B'Elanna hissed as the Doctor pressed on the controls and the pod slid open.

"I didn't turn it on." He replied incredulously as the man on the table began to stir. B'Elanna gave a final warning glare at the doctor, who ignored her and then turned her attention to her old friend.

"Hey there take it easy you have been through a lot." She said helping Chakotay to sit up and then placing her hand on his shoulder.

"What happened, I don't remember much of anything, passed sitting in my quarters reading, then some kind of light?" Chakotay questioned and everyone looked at one another. Each wondering why he did not remember the memory wipe, but at least his original memory seemed intact.

"Probably something to do with being unconscious, the mind is a mysterious thing." The Doctor said with a slight shrug of the shoulders. B'Elanna quickly filled Chakotay in, who seemed to simply nod and listen. As this was happening Harry went over to the Doctor and asked about getting the entire crew turned back.

"Its just not possible to make the serum viable as a gas, it must be injected straight into the blood stream." He said just as B'Elanna and Chakotay joined them.

"Ok then Doc we need to knock everyone out, maybe not all at once, but as we move through the ship. We can inject them on the way. We need something that wont last very long, we will need all the crew we can get, just in case we are in danger from the Lanterians." Chakotay said as the sickbay doors slid open. Everyone froze as a lone figure slipped inside and flattened themselves against the wall.

"Identify yourself?" B'Elanna said moving towards the shadowed figure, body tense and fists slightly closed.

"It's me Ensign Bennett, please if your you, I need to tell you something." The small woman said coming out of the shadow of the wall and into the low illumination of the room.

"Yeah we are who we are, I guess, what's happened?" Harry now asked coming closer and seeing the woman was injured. Blood dripped down her fingers, it was coming from a gash in her upper arm. Her uniform was torn and her face was ash pale.

"Thank god, Tuvok has been taken away, but before that we managed to turn the ship off course, about half a light year, we should be safe here. I was trying to find the Captain, but no one has seen her." Bennett said now slipping down to the floor before the Doctor caught her and scanned her with a medical tricorder.

"She has lost a lot of blood, this is a phaser burn, it seems the crew are more deadly than we thought." He said as Harry and Chakotay helped lift her onto the bio bed.

"I can fix this easily enough, but we have to make sure we don't end up with an all out war." He continued as Chakotay paced around the room.

"Ok I have a plan, Anderson should still trust me, he has no idea what as happened to me, and I think if I call in saying that Janeway attacked me, I will have some leverage." Chakotay said as B'Elanna scowled at him.

"Ok but what about the Doc, they think he is Captain, wouldn't it make sense for him to just come out now and stop all of this?" B'Elanna replied not liking the idea of Chakotay going out there alone. Especially with the limited knowledge of the situation.

"No that won't work, they all think he was some kind of imposter, Anderson made them think that when he disappeared. Remember they won't have a clue about holograms. It's more likely he will be shot on site." Harry chimed in as Ensign Bennett started to come too.

"Harry is right, you must get control of the ship back. Lieutenant Tuvok was running a scan of this ship, it came up negative, but I have a feeling Commander Anderson has something planned. I overheard him talking about the escape pods, or the shuttles if they should need to evacuate quickly. There was something about it that bothered me." Bennett said as the Doctor gave her a hypo spray and patted her good arm.

"Ok I have an idea, I can flood each compartment that you walk through with selenium gas. It will knock anyone out for about ten minutes. In that time you can inject them with the serum and move on to the next part of the ship. The only problem is you will have to vent the gas directly after you have exited, as prolonged exposure will cause brain damage." the Doctor said getting the things together he would need.

"I can sort out a cascading forcefield effect, we will need to get to the lab, but its only a deck up through this Jeffreys tube." B'Elanna said as the Doctor handed her a breathing mask.

"You will need this. Wear it at all times, even a small amount of this gas will leave you dizzy, but its effects are short lasting." Taking a mask, along with Harry B'Elanna opened up the hatch.

"I will go after Anderson, if it doesn't work, you will just have to free me, along with Tuvok later." Chakotay said now moving towards the door. Only a small nod passed between them all as they

left the Doctor alone with Ensign Bennett.

As Chakotay stepped outside it was all quite, but he had a suspicion it wasn't going to stay that way for long. Tapping his communication badge he quickly called for Commander Anderson.

"Chakotay where have you been?" He said his voice sounding hesitant and Chakotay made his way towards the turbo lift.

"I was blind sided by Lieutenant Janeway, I just came too in the corridor near sickbay, I am headed towards the bridge, can you tell me what is going on?" Chakotay said now stepping inside the lift and calling for the bridge.

"We have what appears to be a mutiny on our hands, I believe the Lieutenant is the ring leader, so far she has evaded our capture." Anderson said just as Chakotay stepped off of the lift and out onto the bridge. There was more security here than he had ever seen, and he knew he was going to have to play this very carefully if he was going to get out of this one with his life.

Tom watched for a moment as Janeway eased the casing off the bomb, exposing its inner workings, and many different components.

"I have a feeling I was not a bomb disposal expert before this all happened." Tom said trying to lighten the mood, but the ticking clock beside him was making that difficult.

"Me neither, but for right now we are all this ship and its crew has. I think we need to try and sever the connection between the timer and the bomb. It won't disarm it, but at least it will stop it exploding." Janeway said picking up a tool kit that was suspended on the wall to their left. Tom didn't know what to do. The bomb was small, two people couldn't really fit. He found himself first looking at the clock, and finding that was far too foreboding, to looking at Janeway. However much he tried he could not remember what had happened before the light. He wanted to, he had feelings there that seemed almost like memories. Something was telling him that they had been close, that he knew more about this woman, than she was simply his Captain. Yet now there was nothing but blank canvass. Tom couldn't be sure what was his real memory and what was just fantasy. Her mumblings suddenly pulled him from his musings.

"What is it?" He asked coming in closer for a better look. Is leg now brushed against hers. His shoulder pushed into hers, and her body was virtually draped over him as she bent down briefly to pick up the tools she had splayed out on the floor.

"I know what these do, I know how to work them, but I do not understand this bomb." Kathryn said slightly exasperated, as Tom placed a hand over the top of hers, to still her and watching as she slowly raised her eyes to meet his own.

"Tom this isn't the time." She said trying to summon some anger but nothing was coming, behind them the clock ticked.

00.09.32, 00.09.31, 00.09.30, 00.09.29.

"Now is exactly the time, when I look at you, is the time when I think I am about to remember the most. There is something more than familiar about you. You are like that person you pass in a hallway, or on the street and think you know, but you can't place them. When I think about you I can feel the memories there just below the surface." Tom said his hand now softly running over hers and down onto her wrist.

"I know Tom I know what you are trying to do, but it doesn't matter now, there is no time to remember. Maybe we wouldn't even know how to disarm this, even if we were our normal selves. I mean your are a pilot, and I a Captain. Neither of which requires advanced knowledge of engineering. Also this device is probably alien, it could have any number of unrecognisable systems. Kathryn's face grew solemn for a moment before she looked up and gave Tom a small lopsided smile. The gesture felt very familiar, and for a moment both of them paused.

"Thank you Tom, I don't think I could have done any of this without you, and I guess if when things get back to normal, and its not what you expect, then at least you will have this." Kathryn said reaching forward, placing her hand behind his neck and pulling his lips to hers. The kiss only lasted a few moments there wasn't time for more. In those moment though Kathryn saw flashes of things. Meeting Tom, he was working on something. Walking with him and feeling attraction. Talking with him in some kind of bath robe. Kissing him, waking up next to him. Being let down by him, and finally this. His lips and his touch and she snapped back on her heels.

"Ok lets do this." She said turning towards the bomb once more and picking up a tool. Tom watched for a second, during the kiss he had felt something, a kind of triumph, but also longing like it was something that he had wanted to happen, yet it never had. Turning back to the clock he was shocked to see only four minutes remaining on the timer. Feeling a momentary panic set in Tom bent forward and picked up another tool.

"Here try this." He said handing it to Kathryn who looked at it and nodded slightly, taking it quickly she set to work on yet another circuit board and let out a long slow breath.

Chakotay had managed to convince Anderson that he was still his loyal servant, but was now confused as to why they were going to the shuttle bay. Ayala, and two other security guards had accompanied them, the corridors seemed devoid of life however, and Chakotay was hoping it was because B'Elanna and Harry had been successful in their mission. Now it was his turn to prevent Anderson from leaving the ship.

"We will have to leave here for now, get Starfleet and regroup. We cannot take this ship alone, I fear they have more followers than I first thought." Anderson said rounding a corner and finding it, like all the others deserted.

"But sir shouldn't we stay, we can't let them have control of Voyager, they could escape." Chakotay said attempting to stall him, but the man did not stop.

"We can retake the ship later, for now we cannot allow ourselves to be captured." He replied coming to the shuttle-bay and standing clear of the doors. Signalling for Ayala to go in first. The man did as he was asked opening the doors and almost immediately passing out.

B'Elanna and Harry had been making their way steadily though the ship. Over half of Voyagers crew had been neutralised, now they were on their way to the shuttle-bay, having been told from crew who had already been turned back that that was where Anderson was headed. Praying they got there first. B'Elanna let out a sigh of relief when they arrived and found both shuttles present and correct. Getting the Doctor to fill the bay with the gas they sat in wait behind the door. They did not have to wait long before Ayala walked in and immediately passed out. The gas then quickly vented into the corridor, where Chakotay the two other security guards, and finally Anderson succumbed to the vapour.

"Venting" B'Elanna said as she pushed the controls on the panel to her left. Harry set about injecting everyone but Chakotay and Anderson with the serum. Leaving everyone where they had fallen, the pair picked Anderson up by the arm pits and began dragging him along the corridor.

"This will do." Harry said once they had completely cleared the gas.

"Ok Doc energise." B'Elanna said as the transporter beam took them and they ended up in sick bay.

"Ok get him in there, I have isolated it." The Doctor said as they quickly threw Anderson inside the small area of Sick bay that was then sealed off with a forcefield.

"Now what?" B'Elanna said as the Doctor passed through the forcefield and began running scans.

"Now we wait for him to wake up, but there is one thing I do know, he is defiantly not human, he has been altered to look like us, but it is crude, I can reverse it easily." He said setting about his work while the alien was still unconscious.

00.02.12, 00.02.11, 00.02.10,

Time was slipping away, and now all thoughts of the past, present and future now seemed to mingle as one. Kathryn worked as quickly as she could, but every time she thought she had found away in another connection was made to stop her.

"Its been rigged to prevent tampering, I will never break the connection in time. If I had a hour maybe." She said dropping her tools and sitting back on her heels.

"You know I am kind of glad I have no idea who I really am." Kathryn said as Tom picked up the tool and inched forward.

"Why?" He asked as he looked at the device.

"Because I have a felling I would be very disappointed in myself right now." Kathryn replied as Tom set to work on the bomb, there was just over a minute remaining now, but he had to not think about that too much. He had to block out any distractions, but Kathryn had been right, there was no way they could break this encryption code and stop the bomb creating new links for everyone they severed, not with the time remaining.

"Tom please, maybe we should just get it as far away from the core as possible, give everyone else a fighting chance." Kathryn said reaching for the bomb. Tom slapped her hand away, knowing there was no way he was going to let her do that. Making a final decision he turned and cut all the connections at once, ripping the device almost in half with his cutting tool.

"Tom!"

00.00.12., 00.00.11, 00.00.11, 00.00.11.

They looked at the timer stuck with eleven seconds to spare Tom let out a laugh, almost like a sigh of relief and as he turned to see Kathryn's face it turned into more of a chuckle.

"Do you have any idea what could have happened." She said her breath coming in short little puffs, as Tom stood up, flexing his painful knees as he did so. Offering Kathryn his hand, he helped her to stand so they were once again pressed tightly together.

"Yeah we could have blown up eleven seconds earlier than we were meant to." Tom replied with a slight smile, as he ran his hand softly down her cheek.

"Idiot." She grinned at him, turning from him and making her way rapidly down the Jeffreys tube.

"Hey is that all the thanks I get?" Tom called as Kathryn turned to him, her eyebrow raised.

"Maybe, I think I will be better at rewarding you when I have my ship and my memories back." Her words were playful, but something inside Tom thought he would much rather get his reward now.

When everyone was back in their rightful place, except Anderson, who was actually and Alien from a race called the Algar, a race that had been at war with the Lanterians for a decade. Chakotay made contact with the race they were supposed to attack. They had found them a peaceful people, who had a wealth of natural resources, which was why the Algarians had been intent on taking their world. He had spoken at length with the Lanterians high council, and had handed over Anderson. He now sat in the ready room, wishing it was Kathryn here and not him. It had taken them a while to regroup. Even longer to find Kathryn and Tom, who were lost in the maze of Jeffreys tubes. Once they had been found, the Doctor had taken them straight to sick bay. Both to reverse the effects of the memory beam, and to let them rest. They were both suffering from mild exhaustion, and dehydration. Now and only now Chakotay would allow himself to remember what had happened when they had been changed. How he had caught Tom and Kathryn flirting, him being jealous, and Kathryn attacking him. To the rest of the crew he pretend he could not remember, and it was probably for the best. Chakotay expected there would be a few changes between himself and his Captain now, but he would be dammed if it was because of him.

Kathryn sat in the dim lights of night time sick bay. The Doctor was off treating mild injuries sustained in the battle for Voyager. Luckily no one had been seriously injured, and there was no permanent damage. Kathryn found this to be of some comfort, but now as she sat looking down at Tom's face, she realised that permanent damaged had been caused. This wasn't something, even the amazing EMH could fix. This was something she had to fix on her own. Even now Kathryn could feel her won heart breaking, and for a moment, she wished she could go back to the time, before. Before she knew who she really was, or at least could deny who she really was. Now though that was not an option, and she knew she would have to tell Tom about the mistake they had made. She knew it would break his heart. She had always know there was something between them. Now it was obvious the only thing that had stood in their way was a thin line of protocol.

"You planning on sitting and staring at me all night, kind of hard to sleep if your going to." Tom said surprising her almost to the point of her jumping out of her seat.

"Sorry I thought you were asleep lieutenant, I will leave you in piece." Kathryn said the use of his rank not going unnoticed by either.

"Kathryn?" Tom questioned his hand reaching out and grabbing her, even as she stood.

"Tom look, we will talk about this in the morning, get some rest." Kathryn said trying to extract herself but was unsuccessful. Her attempt was half hearted at best, and even now as she was willing herself to get away a part of her wanted to stay.

"No I want to talk about it now. You can't just leave and pretend this never happened, I know we couldn't remember who we were, but were we really that different? Maybe more free less battle hardened, but don't deny to me what you felt wasn't really you." Tom said sitting up now and moving closer to her. His hand pulling her in towards him at the same time. She resisted again, but only for a moment before she feet moved forward almost of their own accord.

"I can deny it Tom, I have to, I am your Captain, I swore to myself I would never become involved with someone under my command. Recent events changed that for a while, but now we both have to live with it." Kathryn said feeling his hand move up to take hold of her shoulders. She was standing and he was sitting, but it meant their faces were now at equal height and she could not avoid his eyes.

"I refuse to let this simply be a memory, Kathryn neither can you, it will eat you up inside." Tom said his eyes boring into hers and she knew he was right. It was easy to avoid the forbidden fruit when you didn't know what you were missing, but now she knew exactly how he felt, what he smelt like and how he looked at her when he didn't know he couldn't show his feelings.

"I'm not sure I can be your Captain and your lover, the complications that come with that will tare us apart." Kathryn said still trying to fight this, even as she allowed him to place his hands at her back and pull her in closer. His nose met her hair, smelling her deeply, it sent a shiver down her spine before his lips settled over her ear.

"Captain, Crewman, Doctor, Pilot. It doesn't matter in the end who you are, love should have no boundaries." Kathryn turned her head until Tom's lips were level with her own. She closed the gap, pressing her flesh against his, stepping into the gap between his thighs and for the first time feeling him against the entire length of her body. His hands wondered into her hair and caressed her tenderly, and this, more than anything in the world felt right.

THE END

Thank you for reading XxX


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